Sports
Caitlin Clark's WNBA welcome is a reality check
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — As the seconds ticked down before her first WNBA game began, Caitlin Clark couldn’t stop moving. Waiting for the opening jump, she paced along the free throw line. She tugged at her shorts and fixed her ponytail. She swung her arms in an attempt to stay loose.
Then the ref tossed the orange and white WNBA basketball, but officials deemed it needed to be thrown a second time. Unlike the official’s toss, Clark might not want a complete redo of her debut. Still, there were definitely moments she will want back from a mixed individual performance and, ultimately, a disappointing loss.
She led the Indiana Fever with 20 points, yet she also notched 10 turnovers — the most ever in a player’s first WNBA game.
“I didn’t have the greatest start, so I think (there’s) just a lot to learn from,” Clark said. “There’s gonna be good ones. There’s gonna be bad ones.”
Caitlin Clark scored her first professional points with 5:24 to play in the first half, hitting a layup. @TheAthleticWBB pic.twitter.com/BqamXt3GBj
— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) May 15, 2024
She rewrote the record book over four years at Iowa, often making the hardest matchups and most difficult shots look like a breeze. Tuesday’s inglorious record was not expected. Just over a month has passed since Clark’s college career concluded, but life in the WNBA is here. If a reminder was needed, she showed in the Fever’s 92-71 defeat to the Connecticut Sun that she’ll, at times, have growing pains as she transitions into the professional ranks.
“She’s a rookie in this league,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “This is the best league in the world. We’ve got to teach her what these games are gonna look like for her every single night and we’ve got to eliminate some of that pressure for her. That’s on me, that’s on my staff to have to figure out.”
All eyes are on Clark as she attempts to jump to the pros with high expectations to not just perform like she did in college but invigorate the league in a way no player has before. Tuesday’s season tipoff was in front of the Sun’s first home-opener sellout since 2003, and she’ll make her home debut in front of another raucous crowd Thursday. At Connecticut, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fans wore No. 22 T-shirts with Iowa and Fever logos on them to celebrate Clark. (At one point, a “bandwagon fan” graphic appeared on the Sun video board while showing many of them on the screen.) Fans with “Clark Fever” shirts started wandering the Mohegan Sun casino floor hours before the evening tipoff. The game’s television rating is sure to be far higher than last season’s openers.
It’s a scene Clark witnessed at nearly every game during her senior season at Iowa.
“I played in sold-out crowds literally every single game, so these environments don’t scare me or impact me at all,” she said Tuesday morning. “I’m sure there will be just like a lot of basketball fans here that really appreciate the game.”
the fans are showing out in Connecticut tonight 🙌 pic.twitter.com/7CECWVIFSJ
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 14, 2024
Yet even with that familiarity, on the morning of the most highly anticipated rookie debut in WNBA history, she attempted to temper expectations.
“I know the outside world thinks I’m gonna do some amazing things, but that might take some time,” Clark said. “And if things aren’t perfect right away or one game’s not as amazing as I want it to be, give yourself grace, continue to learn, continue to get better from it.”
Almost immediately, Clark was welcomed to the WNBA by one of the world’s best players. Less than two minutes in, Sun star forward Alyssa Thomas attacked Clark in transition, forcing the 6-foot guard into a foul. After picking up two fouls, Clark ended the first quarter scoreless. She admitted regaining her flow was tough after sitting some early.
Clark had said “it would be nice” for her first career basket to come on a layup, but she couldn’t have envisioned waiting until the 5:24 mark of the second quarter to score. As she walked to the locker room at halftime, trailing by 10 points, reigning Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston grabbed Clark’s attention.
“(Boston) said just be calm, be aggressive and be you,” Clark said.
Clark made some uncharacteristic errors, picking up the basketball and traveling, dribbling it off her foot and throwing an errant inbounds pass. She has room to improve defensively, as well. Playing an experienced opponent, Connecticut’s physicality made a difference. Sides said Indiana was “punched in the mouth.”
Clark eventually settled in, taking advantage of switches. She hit a late fourth-quarter 3-pointer over Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa on a shot reminiscent of her time with the Hawkeyes. Still, the Fever played the entire night in catch-up mode, trailing for the game’s final 34 minutes. A stretch in the fourth quarter in which Thomas guarded Clark provided another data point that Clark’s competition level had increased.
GO DEEPER
What we learned in Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut
There’s plenty of tape for Clark to devour now, and not much time to do it. Sides stressed that Indiana’s spacing was poor, and that it needs to find ways to get Boston easier looks (she attempted only six shots and scored just 4 points). Clark’s teammates have to do a better job of coming back to the ball on her passes. Cutting down on turnovers — the Fever had 25 — will also be imperative.
Opportunities to show immediate growth will come soon and often. Indiana opens the season with seven games in 12 days. The New York Liberty await Thursday night, another stiff challenge in a run of them.
Some performances will inevitably pale in comparison to others. A Clark masterclass will surely come sooner than later. But Tuesday emphasized what her new competition is like. How she responds will be her biggest challenge.
“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is,” Clark said. “Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game.”
(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)
Sports
Rams star Puka Nacua accused of biting woman, making antisemitic remarks: report
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Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua has reportedly been accused of biting a woman and making anti-Semitic comments, according to TMZ.
The woman made the allegations in a rejected application for a temporary restraining order after an alleged incident on Dec. 31 in Los Angeles.
Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, said, according to TMZ, that “the whole claim is nothing more than a shakedown attempt” and that the bite “left nothing more than a temporary mark.”
NFL Network reporter Jamie Erdahl interviews Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (17) after the game against the Arizona Cardinals in the second half at SoFi Stadium on Dec. 28, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
A hearing is scheduled for April 14.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Nacua’s agent and the Rams for comment.
Nacua previously apologized for performing an “antisemitic” act on a YouTube stream in December.
UPSCALE SHOPPING DISTRICT ROCKED BY ALLEGED ANTISEMITIC BEATING AS LAWYER, 2 OTHERS CHARGED
Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams reacts during the second quarter against the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 28, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Nacua discussed touchdown celebrations on YouTuber Adin Ross’ stream, as Nacua’s Rams are set for a Thursday night affair in Seattle against the Seahawks.
Many, however, believed the celebration perpetuated a harmful anti-Jewish stereotype.
In the video, Ross instructed Nacua to spike the ball, flex and then rub his hands together. Ross, who is Jewish, has referred to the movement as his own “dance” or “emote.”
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Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua reacts following an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams won 44-42. (Eric Thayer/AP Photo)
Nacua received overwhelming pushback and issued an apology Thursday, hours before his Rams took on the Seattle Seahawks.
“When I appeared the other day on a social media livestream, it was suggested to me to perform a specific movement as part of my next touchdown celebration. At the time, I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people,” Nacua said in a “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” graphic. “I deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions as I do not stand for any form of racism, bigotry or hate of another group of people.”
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Sports
High school baseball and softball: Tuesday’s scores
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL, SOFTBALL SCORES
Tuesday’s Results
BASEBALL
CITY SECTION
El Camino Real 8, Birmingham 3
SOUTHERN SECTION
AAE 19, Victor Valley Christian 5
Adelanto 11, Silverado 3
Alhambra 8, Bell Gardens 0
Aliso Niguel 7, Tesoro 4
Arcadia 10, Pasadena 0
Alta Loma 6, Colony 5
Beverly Hills 5, Lawndale 4
Buena 4, Ventura 0
Burbank Burroughs 6, Muir 0
Cajon 7, Riverside Prep 3
Calabasas 10, Thousand Oaks 9
Capistrano Valley 14, El Toro 8
Capistrano Valley Christian 6, Western Christian 4
Cathedral 1, Bishop Montgomery 0
Cerritos 7, Artesia 0
Charter Oak 13, Walnut 5
Chino 5, Montclair 4
Chino Hills 12, La Serna 3
CIMSA 12, Silver Valley 5
Claremont 12, Rowland 0
Colton 5, Fontana 2
Culver City 11, Inglewood 3
Damien 8, La Habra 3
Desert Christian 6, Vasquez 1
Desert Hot Springs 5, Banning 4
Diamond Bar 7, Knight 0
Don Lugo 11, Diamond Ranch 1
Downey Calvary Chapel 7, Fairmont Prep 6
El Modena 3, Villa Park 0
Elsinore 9, Temescal Canyon 1
Environmental Charter 17, Compton Early College 7
Fallbrook 8, Rancho Buena Vista 5
Firebaugh 6, Lynwood 5
Fountain Valley 1, Corona del Mar 0
Fullerton 7, Ocean View 5
Glenn 4, Whitney 3
Grace 14, Cate 2
Granite Hills 6, Victor Valley 1
Hawthorne 3, Compton Centennial 2
Irvine 3, Woodbridge 2
Laguna Beach 17, St. Margaret’s 2
Laguna Hills 3, Costa Mesa 1
La Mirada 5, Gahr 1
La Salle 15, Gardena Serra 0
La Sierra 11, West Valley 2
Los Alamitos 4, Marina 0
Los Altos 13, West Covina 2
Los Amigos 15, Santa Ana Valley 9
Magnolia 8, Graden Grove Santiago 4
Maranatha 14, Heritage Christian 2
Mary Star of the Sea 23, St. Genevieve 11
Montebello 13, Mark Keppel 0
Murrieta Valley 6, Murrieta Mesa 5
Newport Harbor 9, Edison 0
Norte Vista 22, Bethel Christian 1
Norwalk 7, Mayfair 4
Nuview Bridge 20, California Military Institute 0
Oaks Christian 5, Newbury Park 2
Oakwood 15, Milken 10
Ontario 5, Chaffey 0
Orange 7, Anaheim 5
Oxnard 3, Santa Barbara 1
Oxnard Pacifica 9, Rio Mesa 2
PACS 14, Faith Baptist 3
Paraclete 13, St. Anthony 1
Paramount 9, Dominguez 6
Riverside North 5, Vista del Lago 1
Rosamond 2, California City 1
Royal 8, Foothill Tech 1
Sage Hill 1, Irvine University 0
San Juan Hills 3, Mission Viejo 2
San Marino 4, Monrovia 1
Santa Monica 10, Leuzinger 1
Savanna 7, Loara 5
Schurr 10, San Gabriel 0
Segerstrom 8, Buena Park 6
Shalhevet 7, Animo leadership 0
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Crespi 0
Sierra Canyon 8, Chaminade 2
South Hills 4, San Dimas 0
St. Bernard 5, Bishop Amat 4
St. Bonaventure 8, Thacher 3
St. Francis 6, Alemany 4
St. Monica 21, Pasadena Marshall 3
St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 19, Verbum Dei 0
Tahquitz 3, San Jacinto 1
Temecula Prep 16, United Christian Academy 4
Temecula Valley 13, Chaparral 0
Trabuco Hills 8, San Clemente 1
Tustin 11, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 6
Village Christian 13, Valley Christian 11
Vista Murrieta 4, Great Oak 2
Warren 2, Bellflower 0
Westlake 2, Agoura 1
Westminster La Quinta 7, Century 2
Whittier Christian 11, St. Paul 3
YULA 8, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 7
INTERSECTIONAL
Anza Hamilton 17, Bonsall 7
Bishop Union 11, Frazier Mountain 0
Boron 17, Desert 1
Carson 4, Ramona 3
Eastvale Roosevelt 3, Nevada McQueen 1
Esperanza 14, Arkansas Prairie Grove 4
Grand Terrace 6, Nevada McQueen 0
Immanuel Christian 21, Trona 9
Missouri Lincoln 13, Grand Terrace 1
Northview 10, Spanish Springs 4
Oregon Lakeridge 5, La Palma Kennedy 4
Oregon West Linn 3, Citrus Valley 2
Quartz Hill 15, Oregon Bend 2
SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION
CALS Early College 0, East College Prep 0
Central City Value 40, Discovery 11
SOUTHERN SECTION
Alemany 4, Vasquez 0
Aliso Niguel 11, Redondo Union 4
Anaheim Canyon 7, Segerstrom 1
Ayala 5, Bonita 0
Banning 8, Desert Hot Springs 3
Barstow 14, Ridgecrest Burroughs 7
Beaumont 6, Rancho Cucamonga 2
Bell Gardens 14, San Gabriel 3
Bethel Christian 26, Norte Vista 4
California City 15, Rosamond 3
California Military 21, Nuview Bridge 2
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 9, St. Monica 4
Cerritos 11, El Rancho 4
Channel Islands 15, Carpinteria 4
Chino 11, Montclair 0
Chino Hills 12, Temescal Canyon 5
CIMSA 19, Silver Valley 4
Claremont 6, Northview 4
Cornerstone Christian 14, Packinghouse Christian 8
Corona Santiago 8, Colony 5
Covina 4, Buena Park 3
Cypress 8, El Modena 2
Don Lugo 3, Diamond Ranch 2
Downey 10, Corona 2
Edison 9, Corona del Mar 0
El Dorado 3, Yorba Linda 0
El Toro 2, Tesoro 1
Esperanza 21, Troy 2
Fillmore 5, Santa Paula 4
Hart 11, Golden Valley 1
Hawthorne 15, Compton Centennial 0
Hueneme 11, Nordhoff 5
Huntington Beach 17, Fountain Valley 0
La Habra 9, Garden Grove Pacifica 4
Lakewood 15, Long Beach Cabrillo 1
La Palma Kennedy 2, Gahr 0
La Salle 11, Flintridge Sacred Heart 3
Lawndale 30, Beverly Hills 20
Lennox Academy 14, HMSA 3
Long Beach Poly 15, Long Beach Wilson 5
Los Alamitos 10, Newport Harbor 0
Los Altos 12, Alta Loma 0
Maranatha 15, Duarte 5
Mary Star of the Sea 21, St. Anthony 5
Mira Costa 7, South Torrance 2
Mission Viejo 5, Sunny Hills 3
Montebello 10, Mark Keppel 9
Monrovia 4, San Marino 3
Murrieta Mesa 7, Great Oak 0
Murrieta Valley 13, Temecula Valley 2
Oak Park 16, Royal 12
Oaks Christian 9, Newbury Park 3
Ontario 11, Chaffey 1
Placentia Valencia 8, Tustin 4
Ramona Convent 10, Bishop Conaty-Loreto 0
Rio Hondo Prep 12, Mayfield 8
Rio Mesa 14, Oxnard Pacifica 0
Rosary Academy 7, Irvine University 6
Sacred Heart of Jesus 12, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 1
Santa Ana Foothill 6, Crean Lutheran 1
Santa Clara 4, Foothill Tech 2
Santa Monica 8, Leuzinger 4
Saugus 11, West Ranch 8
Schurr 11, Alhambra 1
Serrano 14, Riverside Notre Dame 4
Sierra Canyon 4, Chaminade 3
Silverado 22, Adelanto 3
Simi Valley 8, Camarillo 2
St. Genevieve 18, St. Bernard 3
St. Paul 14, Bishop Montgomery 2
Temecula Prep 16, Santa Rosa Academy 7
Thousand Oaks 30, Calabasas 0
Valencia 8, Castaic 6
Ventura 12, Buena 7
Victor Valley 8, Granite Hills 4
Westlake 1, Agoura 0
Westminster 15 Long Beach Jordan 5
Whittier Christian 16, Village Christian 5
Wiseburn-Da Vinci 22, Downey Calvary Chapel 1
INTERSECTIONAL
Boron 16, Desert 1
Canyon Country Canyon 15, Arleta 5
Compton Early College 23, Environmental Charter 19
Immanuel Christian 12, Trona 10
Jesuit 5, Trabuco Hills 4
Santa Margarita 1, Jesuit 0
Sports
Trump admin says SJSU now faces ‘impending enforcement’ for transgender volleyball scandal conflict
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FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s Department of Education said it has notified San Jose State University (SJSU) that it faces “impending enforcement action” for its “refusal to comply with Title IX.”
SJSU and the California State University (CSU) system filed a lawsuit earlier in March to challenge an Education Department investigation that determined the university violated Title IX in its handling of a biological male transgender volleyball player on a women’s team from 2022-24.
Now, the administration is cracking down against that resistance.
“We have provided SJSU with multiple opportunities to resolve its Title IX violations with common sense actions: separating male and female athletes based on their biological sex, keeping men out of women’s locker rooms and bathrooms, restoring rightfully-earned titles and accolades to female athletes, and apologizing to the women forced to forfeit competitions to protect themselves,” Kimberly Richey, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in an announcement.
“Yet, SJSU remains obstinate, choosing a radical ideology over safety, dignity, and fairness for its own students. With today’s action, the Department is putting the university on notice: comply with the law or risk losing its federal funding.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to SJSU and CSU for a response.
Brooke Slusser and Blaire Fleming of the San Jose State Spartans call a play against the Air Force Falcons on Oct. 19, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
The conflict between Trump’s administration and the school stems back to the 2024 season, when a national controversy involving transgender player Blaire Fleming triggered an election-cycle media firestorm, all during Trump’s third White House campaign.
The Education Department’s investigation has claimed, “SJSU actively recruited and allowed a male to compete on the women’s indoor and beach volleyball teams and reportedly instructed members of the coaching staff not to tell the female players that the athlete was a male.”
The investigation added that “on multiple occasions, the male athlete spiked the ball so forcefully that it knocked females on the opposing team to the ground.”
One of the standout details of the investigation’s findings was that a female SJSU player “discovered that the male student had conspired to have a member of the opposing team spike her in the face during an upcoming match. SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected this female athlete to a Title IX complaint for reportedly ‘misgendering’ the male athlete when discussing this incident in online videos and interviews.”
Former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser has included those allegations in her ongoing lawsuit against representatives of SJSU and CSU.
UNIVERSITY LEADER ADMITS SCHOOLS ARE ‘NOT A POLITICAL PARTY’ IN WARNING TO ELITE CAMPUSES
After SJSU and CSU announced they were suing the Trump administration to challenge the findings, Slusser, and other former NCAA players, came forward about their alleged experience during the scandal, and how it affected them, in recent interviews with Fox News Digital.
Slusser, who shared an apartment with Fleming at SJSU without knowing the athlete’s birth sex, became the subject of viral debate after her interview reflecting on the experience sharing spaces with Fleming.
“You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I [was] unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man,” Slusser said, also alleging SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress encouraged her to live in the same apartment as the trans teammate when another group of players was also looking for a final tenant.
Former Utah State volleyball star Kaylie Ray told Fox News Digital that during matches against SJSU and Fleming in 2022 and ’23, before Fleming’s birth sex was known, she had teammates suffer finger injuries from the trans athlete’s spikes.
“I had teammates who had seriously jammed their fingers, luckily not broken, but a handful of girls who had sustained minor injuries from the male player,” Ray said, adding, “We knew that if the male athlete had a phenomenal game, there was nothing we could do to stop that person.”
Ray’s Utah State team became one of five teams to forfeit at least one game to SJSU in 2024, seemingly in protest of Fleming. She says the forfeit impacted her team’s hopes of winning their fourth straight Mountain West championship.
Meanwhile, the University of Wyoming forfeited two matches to SJSU in 2024. Former Cowgirls player Macey Boggs told Fox News Digital that the decisions to forfeit the games “permanently ruined” friendships among her teammates.
“There were some of the girls who I really enjoyed, and we got along great, and then this situation came up, some conflict came up, and ultimately we went in separate directions because of that… as soon as we played in our last game, we all went in separate directions… it was hard to maintain those relationships,” Boggs said.
SJSU was plagued by a separate Title IX violation in sports that it had to resolve with the Biden administration in 2021. The university ultimately came to a $1.6 million resolution with the Department of Justice in 2021.
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The DOJ found that SJSU failed for more than a decade to respond adequately to reports of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, of female student-athletes by an athletic trainer then working at SJSU, beginning in 2009 when female student-athletes reported that the trainer subjected them to repeated, unwelcome sexual touching.
The department and SJSU entered into a comprehensive agreement to address the findings of the investigation, which began in June 2020 during Trump’s first term.
Now, Trump’s current administration is giving the school 10 more days to comply with a series of resolution agreements to resolve the volleyball situation, or face enforcement action, including referral to the DOJ and termination of SJSU’s federal funding.
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